Tatulani
Child: I return! Parent: close door! Keep bad world out! Child: incorrect. World good. Parent: incorrect. Enamored of world. Neighbor creatures bad, savage, unfit for friendship. Child: creatures have magic. Neighbor creatures powerful. Neighbor creatures help Tatulani. Parent: creatures barbarian. Neighbor creatures make Tatulani stupid. Child stupid. Child: adult! I make friends with neighbor creatures! Parent: young. Not remember true home. Tatulani home grand: Tatulani intelligent, Tatulani build technology, Tatulani conquer worlds. Tatulani now stranded on Oustomia. Tatulani lose technology, lose culture, lose strength. Tatulani forget true selves. In future, home Tatulani come for stranded Tatulani. Stranded Tatulani conquer Oustomia, conquer neighbor creature’s magic. Give to home Tatulani. Child: hateful. Parent should go Hell. Parent: already in Hell. ''--- recorded in the Tatulani ghetto in Andrus.'' Tatulani It was no accident that drew the Tatulani to the world of Oustomia. With the Walkways running between worlds, their curious minds demanded to know where they led, and they found Oustomia. Plans were made to spread across the world, and many more arrived shortly, ready to assist in building a beachhead onto the alien world, only to have the Walkways collapse, stranding them there. Alone but not ready to give up, each Tatulani pursues their own path, some searching for a new way to establish contact with their home worlds, while others explore the world, taking note of the wonders here, both in the people that live here and the amazing artifacts that they can find and document. Most simply struggle to survive in a world gone mad, satisfied to carve out a tiny corner for themselves and their people. Physical Description Slender and slightly taller than the average human, Tatulani are insectoid people with four long delicate-looking arms that serve them well when manipulating the fine instruments they are accustomed to. Often garbed in a hodgepodge of clothing, the tatulani often wield techniques no native can entirely comprehend, some brought with them or salvaged from where they could find it, and the rest made with whatever they could get their fingers on. Also adorning most Tatulani are tools. Rare is one caught without a few screwdrivers, a plier, or other things needed to live ‘properly’, Society Plunged into the chaos when everything went wrong, the Tatulani soon forgot the small differences that kept them at arm’s length from each other. Over time they became a close-knit tribe, united against the ‘savages’ of the world around them. While most of their technology has decayed without proper tools for maintaining it, what little that remains is hoarded jealously in the Tatulani district of Andrus. This mild xenophobia has done well to bring them together, and they cooperate easily with one another, giving the benefit of a doubt to a fellow Tatulani, even as they doubt the motivations of the ‘aliens’ around them. Their society is mildly patriarchal. While deeds speak loudest, when all else is the same, the male’s opinion is the one they go with, and lineage is traced through the father. Relations Tatulani are willing to bargain and cohabitate with other species, but there’s always a wall between them and their neighbors. They tolerate, but do not welcome. No matter how long a town has stood peacefully, war is only one irrational bout of anger away, or so they think, and they try to be on the right side of things for when the inevitable conflict comes. Polite enough to get the job done, but no further than that. Alignment and Religion The tatulani are almost always Lawful, but aside from that, they come in all stripes, from those who seek the better the world around them, those who simply wish to survive to see the next day, and those who believe the only person worth truly protecting is themselves. In communities of their own, misdeeds are punished first with imprisonment and talk. The accused will be spoken to by the town ‘elder’, who is not always the oldest, but considered the wisest, and an attempt will be made to bring the wayward Tatulani back into the fold. If the elder is convinced they have learned, they are released. Repeat offenders are not tolerated, and can be stripped of their Tatulani status by tearing off their antenna and ritualistically scarring their carapace before tossing them out. Adventurers While some survive, and some hide, others want to explore and see. Some seek a way to get a message home, while others are eager to not be caught empty-handed when help does arrive. The thinking goes that if they are laden with exotic treasures to offer the homeworld, they will be welcomed back with celebration, rather than as failures. As part of adventuring parties, they tend to be goal oriented, seeking the way to get the job done expediently, and sometimes getting impatient with others. This habit often wears down over time, but can be quite a trial dealing with youngling Tatulani. Male Names Chitik, Ishvis, Gravsh, Kikik, Vidik Female Names Evesh, Letek, Vatech, Revali Racial Traits * +2 Intelligence, +2 Constitution, –2 Charisma: Their shelled form is quite resilient despite its fragile appearance, and their alien minds may be difficult to understand, but their intelligence is undeniable. * Size: Tatulanis are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size. * Type: Tatulanis are humanoids with the Tatulani subtype. * Base Speed: Tatulanis have a base speed of 30 feet. * Languages: Tatulanis begin play speaking Common and Tutulani, a language of clicks and whistles that prove decidedly difficult to emulate by other races. Tatulanis with high Intelligence scores can speak planar languages, such as infernal, abyssal, celestial, terran, auran, ignan, or aquan. * ------ * Four-Armed: Tatulani have 4 arms- two ‘primary’ arms and two ‘secondary’ arms just below them. These secondary arms may hold objects, but are not strong enough to be used to hold shields or make attacks, nor possess the dexterity needed to fulfill somatic spell requirements. They may, however, be used to reinforce the Tatulani’s primary hands in combat. By using both a primary hand and a secondary hand, a Tatulani may treat a two-handed weapon as if it were a one-handed weapon. The Tatulani still only adds his Strength bonus (or if wielding it as an off-hand weapon, .5x his Strength bonus) rather than 1.5x his Strength bonus to the weapon. Alternately, the Tatulani may use a primary and a secondary hand together to treat a one-handed weapon as if it were a light weapon, such as for the purposes of the Weapon Finesse or Two-Weapon Fighting feats. By using all 4 hands together, the Tatulani may wield a weapon one size category larger than itself without penalty. Retrieving an object from a pouch or backpack with a secondary hand is a swift action. * Claws: Tatulani have sharp fingers that work fantastically as makeshift screwdrivers or to pry up panels, or dig into the flesh of their enemies. They begin play with two claw attacks that deal 1d4 damage. These claw attacks are located on the Tatulani’s primary hands. * Technological: Tatulanis are inclined towards technology, and are less likely to be confused about the operation and upkeep of machines devices. Tatulani gain a +2 racial bonus to Knowledge (engineering) and one Craft skill chosen at character creation. Alternate Racial Traits Delicate Fingers: Some tatulani have fingers more suited to precision work than combat. The tatulani gains a +2 to Disable Device. This replaces claws. Practical: Some tatulani embrace their new home and new neighbors, rather than constantly searching for remembrances of the old. These tatulani gain a +2 racial bonus to Survival and Diplomacy checks. This replaces technological. Racial Archetypes ((Personal Note from Karel, Only to be taken into consideration if the Artisan Class will be allowed, as it is a 3rd party class from Drop Dead Studios, but not specifically tied to Skybourne. This seems powerful, too powerful. Extraordinary magic items and spell completetion/trigger. Bypassing the main means of defense against casters. That's even outside of the class, since anyone with high knowledge (Engineering) can use them. I'd suggest either limiting it to the class, or removing the archetype altogether.)) Alien Sage (Artisan archetype) Among the Tatulani are those who’s thirst for knowledge never ends. These sages seek out learning in all of its forms, combining the learning of their past with the magic of their future. While their brethren debate about the merits of holding to the old world or embracing the new, a true sage masters the secrets of both and brings them to bear against their enemies. An alien sage gains the following as his Crafter’s Art: ='Technology=' Craft Technology: The alien sage may craft items using their Creation Feats as normal, except they may choose to create items that count as extraordinary rather than supernatural, and as such do not count as magical for the purpose of detection, dispel magic, anti-magic fields, or other effects. When activating an extraordinary scroll, wand, or staff (which are often small, finicky pieces of super-science rather than pieces of writing or wood) use Knowledge (Engineering) instead of Spellcraft or Use Magic Device for all purposes. Any class features or craftsman techniques that alter or add bonuses to Use Magic Device instead adds bonuses or alters Knowledge (Engineering) for this purpose. Spellcasters cannot automatically activate these items, even if the included magical effects are known to them and/or on their class list. Activating these pieces of technology does not have a chance of arcane spell failure. Craft Magical Arms and Armor cannot be used to create technology (for these purposes, a lightning pistol is better represented as a wand of lightning bolt than an actual enchanted weapon), but extraordinary items may be further enhanced as weapons, armor, or with other magical enchantments. Enchanting a technological item with a magical benefit increases the cost of the magical benefit by a multiple of x1.5, as usually happens to the cheaper enchantment when adding two magical effects to the same item. In this case, the magical enchantment is always considered the lower-cost enchantment for this purpose. An artisan with the Technology crafter’s art also gains the following abilities: Gunsmith: At 1st level, the alien sage gains Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms) and the Gunsmithing feat as bonus feats. In addition, the alien sage gains one of the following firearms of his choice: blunderbuss, musket, or pistol. His starting weapon is battered, and only he knows how to use it properly. All other creatures treat her gun as if it had the broken condition. If the weapon already has the broken condition, it does not work at all for anyone else trying to use it. This starting weapon can only be sold for scrap (it’s worth 4d10 gp when sold). Spellsling (Su): At 9th level, the alien sage can spend 2 enhancement points to fire a spell or magical effect directly through his firearm, provided the magical effect is either a ranged attack, ranged touch attack, cone, line, or ray. If using the alternate Craft Technology rules above, effects from those items count as magical effects for this purpose. Targets affected by these spells or magical effects do not suffer damage from the firearm itself (as no actual bullet was fired), but instead the firearm’s enhancement bonus (if any) is added as a bonus to the spell’s attack rolls or to the spell’s saving throw DCs. Gun Mastery (Ex): At 17th level, the alien sage adds his Dexterity bonus to all damage rolls made with firearms. Category:Race Category:Lore